all maps by Nina Sapountsis

Chocolaty Mud Map

Nina's map was drawn by her manager at Haigh's, an Australian chocolate store. She provided the details in her letter: "I had to go to the Haigh's office thingy and [my manager] drew a map on a bit of receipt so I wouldn't get lost on my way to the 'manual handling training day!!' It's like a rabbit warren up there but in the end I got a helping hand from the lady at Haigh's below (not my store), and I didn't end up needing to use the map! It was interesting to see if the map was correct afterwards, and it really was!" Thanks Nina.

Also worth mentioning here, the HDMA recently found out about the Australian term mud map. The phrase, originating from quick maps drawn on soft earth with sticks, is commonly used to describe any rough, hand-drawn map. Megan Hicks, a doctoral candidate at Macquarie University who first alerted us to the term writes: "I have used the term this way, after hearing it used, for example, by State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers when drawing a diagram for colleagues needing to drive to an unfamiliar location. A couple of sites that I Googled say the term is Australian, but not everyone is familiar with it, as I found when I asked a couple of friends today."